CityBeat: Martha Good, Bruce Whitman for Ohio Court of Appeals

In an era when judges often give the
final word against Republican extremism, Democratic judges are more
important than ever. That’s why we endorse Martha Good and Bruce Whitman
for Ohio’s First District Court of Appeals.

Republicans have been doing their best to
suppress voters since they were voted into office in big waves in 2010.
Shortly after getting into office, they passed laws severely limiting
access to early voting. Most of the laws were repealed after public
backlash, but Republicans ended up keeping a restriction on early voting
for the weekend and Monday before Election Day that said only military
personnel and their families could vote.

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They
told Republicans the restriction was unconstitutional, and in-person
early voting on the three days before Election Day must be open to all
voters.

It makes sense. After all, what good
reason is there to make voting more difficult? Republicans have cited
costs and even racial politics. In an email to The Columbus Dispatch
published Aug. 19, Doug Preisse, a close adviser to Gov. John Kasich,
wrote, “I guess I really actually feel we shouldn’t contort the voting
process to accommodate the urban — read African-American — voter-turnout
machine.”

Classy. This kind of issue is why now,
more than ever, we need Democrats to stand up to a Republican-controlled
state government.